- Element
- Earth
- Arcana
- Major
- Attribution
- Taurus
- Feeling shows as
- A theme running the situation
- Stage
- The feeling has been measured against a form
The Hierophant
as feelings
They feel this should be done properly, in a recognised form.
Why
The Hierophant reads a connection through what it ought to be. As a trump it describes a theme large enough to be running the situation rather than a passing mood, which is why it outweighs the cards around it.
Upright and reversed
What it is like to hold this feeling.
A reversal is not the opposite of the upright card. It blocks it, delays it, turns it inward or takes it too far, and which of those depends on the kind of card it is.
Upright
The Hierophant reads a connection through what it ought to be. The feeling is genuine and it arrives already thinking about the shape — meeting the family, labelling the relationship, doing this the way it is supposed to be done. That instinct can be moving and it can be limiting, because a person deciding how something should look is not always looking at what it is. For anyone whose situation does not fit a conventional form, this card is often describing exactly the friction they have already noticed.
Reversed
Reversed, either the convention is being questioned — they feel something real that does not fit the expected shape and they are choosing it anyway — or the form is all that is left, and the relationship is being maintained because it is proper rather than because it is wanted.
Reversed, a trump is a theme being resisted, delayed or lived out privately. The theme does not disappear when the card is inverted — it goes underground, which is generally harder on everybody than the upright version.
Where the feeling is in its arc
The feeling has been measured against a form.
The Hierophant is where a feeling is checked against how these things are supposed to go. It has been compared with a template and found to fit, or found not to.
What is missing is originality. A feeling assessed this way can be completely sincere and still be shaped more by the form than by the two people in it.
Attributed to the sign Taurus, the fixed earth that preserves a form long enough for it to be taught. A trump carrying a sign describes a climate rather than an event — the weather a feeling is happening in, and weather lasts.
The same card, four situations
It does not mean the same thing for an ex as it does for a stranger.
Each reading below is built from two things that differ card to card: what the element does to a feeling, and how far along that feeling is.
Someone you have just met
A zodiacal trump at the start of something describes the climate the connection is beginning in rather than a reaction to you. What it reports will still be true in a month, which very little else this early will be. Here specifically, the Hierophant is where a feeling is checked against how these things are supposed to go. It has been compared with a template and found to fit, or found not to.
A relationship you are already in
Inside an established relationship a zodiacal trump names the season the two of you are in. Seasons are long, and what is happening is usually larger than the week it is being felt in. Here specifically, the Hierophant is where a feeling is checked against how these things are supposed to go. It has been compared with a template and found to fit, or found not to.
Someone who ended it, or who you ended it with
For a connection that has ended, a zodiacal trump describes a condition rather than a decision. It says what the ending was made of and declines to predict whether the weather changes. Here specifically, the Hierophant is where a feeling is checked against how these things are supposed to go. It has been compared with a template and found to fit, or found not to.
A feeling neither of you has said out loud
When nothing has been said, a zodiacal trump means the silence has a climate to it — a settled condition rather than a held breath, and conditions do not resolve because somebody asks. Here specifically, the Hierophant is where a feeling is checked against how these things are supposed to go. It has been compared with a template and found to fit, or found not to.
The part most readings skip
What this card cannot tell you.
A feelings position is the one place a reader most wants to be told what they were hoping for, which is exactly why it is the easiest to misread.
- A card describes a quality of feeling. It does not identify a person, confirm that they are thinking about you at this moment, or guarantee what they will do next — and any reading that offers those things is selling certainty the deck does not contain.
- Feelings positions are the ones readers most want a particular answer from, which is exactly why they are the easiest to misread. If a card seems to confirm precisely what you hoped, that is the moment to check it against what has actually happened.
- One card is one input. A feeling that contradicts everything a person has done for six months is a card that needs the rest of the spread, not a card that has revealed a secret.
Keep going
A feeling is one position in a spread.
The full meaning of The Hierophant — upright, reversed, love, career, money and the symbolism the painting carries — is on its own page. If you have not drawn a card yet, the reading below deals a real one.
